III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 347 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that lenders holding mortgages on homes 

in communities of the Gulf Coast devastated by Hurricanes Katrina 

and Rita should extend current voluntary mortgage payment forbearance 

periods and not foreclose on properties in those communities. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 21, 2005 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. VITTER) submitted the following 

resolution 

DECEMBER 22 (legislative day, DECEMBER 21), 2005 

Considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that lenders holding 

mortgages on homes in communities of the Gulf Coast 

devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita should extend current voluntary mortgage payment forbearance 

periods and not foreclose on properties in those communities. 

Whereas the Gulf Coast of the United States has experienced 

1 of the worst hurricane seasons on record; 

Whereas Hurricane Katrina and multiple levee breaks destroyed an estimated 275,000 homes in the Gulf Coast; 
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Whereas 20,664 businesses in the Gulf Coast sustained catastrophic damage from Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane 

Rita; 

Whereas, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis at 

the Department of Commerce, personal income has fallen 

more than 25 percent in Louisiana in the third quarter 

of 2005; 

Whereas, in the time since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and 

Wilma, the Small Business Administration has only approved 20 percent of disaster loan applications for homeowners in the Gulf Coast and has a backlog of more than 

176,000 applications for this assistance as of December 

21, 2005; 

Whereas, of the 20,741 homeowner disaster loan applications 

that have been approved in the Gulf Coast by the Small 

Business Administration, only 1,444 have been fully disbursed; 

Whereas, in response to these circumstances, commercial 

banks, mortgage banks, credit unions, and other mortgage lenders voluntarily instituted 90-day loan forbearance periods after Hurricane Katrina and did not require 

home owners in the Gulf Coast to make mortgage payments until on or about December 1, 2005; 

Whereas, after the termination of the 90-day forbearance period, many home and business owners have received notice from their lenders that they face foreclosure unless 

they make a lump sum balloon payment in the amount 

of the mortgage payments previously subject to forbearance; and 

Whereas foreclosure on homes and businesses in the Gulf 

Coast will have a detrimental impact on the economy of 
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the area, will deprive property owners of their equity at 

a time when they can least afford it, and will have a negative impact on lenders who will be holding properties 

that may not be readily marketable on the open market: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) Congress should act early in the second ses3 sion of the 109th Congress to consider legislation to 

4 provide relief to homeowners in the Gulf Coast; and 

5 (2) commercial banks, mortgage banks, credit 

6 unions, and other mortgage lenders should extend 

7 mortgage payment forbearance to March 31, 2006, 

8 in order to allow Congress the time to consider such 

9 legislation. 

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